CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has sought a response from the Director General of Income Tax (Investigations) department on a petition alleging asset discrepancies in the poll affidavits filed by TVK founder and actor Vijay with his nomination papers for Perambur and Tiruchy (East) Assembly constituencies. The bench said non-disclosure of Rs 100 crore, in one of the affidavits, is an irregularity.
The first division bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan, on Monday, issued notice on the petition filed by V Vignesh, a voter of Perambur constituency in Chennai. “This is an irregularity as more than Rs 100 crore is not disclosed in one Assembly constituency,” the bench said and adjourned the hearing by a week.
The petitioner pointed out that the actor has declared assets of Rs 115.13 crore in the affidavit filed in Perambur but has shown Rs 220.15 crore in his affidavit for Tiruchy (East) He claimed that this discloses multiple layers of inconsistencies which raise grave concerns and make out a prima facie case for probe. This was not a general or approximate declaration but a precise quantified disclosure made on oath before a statutory authority, the petitioner pointed out.
Vignesh had sought the court to issue directions to various authorities, including the Director General of Income Tax (Investigations), the ECI and the Returning Officers of the respective Assembly segments, to probe the asset discrepancies and suppression of facts.
‘Reveal Vijay’s assets before poll’
The petitioner wanted the court to direct the authorities to publish the probe report before April 23, the polling day, as he has a fundamental right to know the correct details of assets of the candidate.